Chapter 248 Copper Mine

For Zhao Jin, it is not difficult to cast copper coins. Don’t forget Zhao Jin’s identity!

King Wei of the Song Dynasty! Minister of Rites! Transportation Commander of Guangnan West Road! He has the right to talk about Guangnan West Road. There happened to be a coin minting supervisor on Guangnan West Road, and the place was set up is still very close to Guizhou, the capital of Guangnan West Road. It is located in Lingchuan County, which is located in the upper reaches of Lishui and connects to Lingqu. Lingqu was called Qin Zaoqu in ancient times, also known as Lingqu, Douhe, Xing'an Canal, and Xianggui Canal.

It is an important canal connecting Guangnan West Road to the north. After passing the Lingqu Canal, it is the Xiang River. From the Xiang River, you can reach Dongting Lake. When you arrive at Dongting Lake, you will naturally reach the Yangtze River. The developed water system is the best way to transport copper coins. After all, it is only 80 miles a day to transport by horses. When using a boat, the speed may not be faster than that of a horse. The problem is that there is no problem with the boats traveling day and night.

In the money minting supervisor, Zhao Chen easily obtained a group of skilled craftsmen and apprentices. In what name is, he directly used money to add power to smash it.

Someone is surprised. Isn’t Zhao Qian afraid that others will find out?

In fact, behind the secrets that are now open and private money casting are all the shadows of scholars and officials! And they are not some ordinary officials, but some big families.

In fact, no matter which dynasty or the banking industry, it is very profitable!

The most direct expression is that official coins are cast from three minerals: copper, tin and lead. The composition of copper is 6.5%, lead is 27%, and tin is about 8%. Although there are errors in the composition because it is cast by local coins, it is not too large.

What about the components of private money? Some unscrupulous merchants will reduce the copper in private money to 35%! Why? Because the price of copper is too expensive. The south is rich in copper. It costs 150 cents per pound. When it comes to the north, the cheapest is 200 cents!

What should I use to replace the copper that is missing? Lead!

Lead is in Jiangxi, which is thirty cents expensive, and cheap, not twenty cents, nineteen cents! (囧)

The difference here is more than ten times. I don’t know how much money I earn when I go in and out. However, the people of the people are not stupid. Private money is lower than official minting. Often three or four private money is worth one official minting.

How could such a huge profit and powerless person be able to manage it? It is normal for Zhao Qian to cast copper coins privately.

However, although Zhao Qian had craftsmen, he did not ask the craftsmen to cast private money immediately. He just asked someone to buy copper, tin, lead, and small-scale casting from the black market. The daily output was so low that it was just a consistent amount of money.

The reason for this is that the black market is relatively expensive. This is normal. Otherwise, what is called a black market? It’s just that some people wonder why not buy it in a regular market?

Because copper, tin, lead, etc. are sold by officials, this is also a policy of the Song Dynasty to control private money, but this policy is obviously not very effective. Just like official salt, private salt sales are still rampant.

Du Xiansheng expressed his confusion about this. He had been in the seven or eight days, and the output was still so low, not enough to give the craftsmen, apprentices and guards. He couldn't help asking: "Prince! Why did you let the money metering workshop go like this? Even if your family has a great career, you won't waste money like this?"

Zhao Qian shook his head disapprovingly and said, "Zijing, you just saw the surface, but not the inside! What's the use of buying it from the black market? Wouldn't it be better to find a mineral on the land of Guangnan West Road?"

Du Xiansheng understood what Zhao Qian meant, but he still reserved it. "The prince's idea is good! The question is when will this mineral be available?"

Zhao Qian smiled, picked up a letter, shook it and said, "Someone just happened to send a pillow!"

This letter comes from Rongzhou, which is originally a large mineral prefecture. There is a large copper mine and two small copper mines in the prefecture. It is also the main production area for the raw materials of Lingchuan Coin Prison.

The letter sent by a clerk from the Imperial Academy happened to be a clerk from the Imperial College. Because it was already July, he was sent to the countryside to inspect the growth of crops. He happened to see a woodcutter holding a piece of malachite to his wife.

The woodcutter had no idea of ​​the value of malachite, nor even the name. He just thought that the stone was quite beautiful, so he used it to please his wife.

Although the Imperial Academy is called the Academy, its education core is a miscellaneous study that scholars and officials do not attach much importance to, and they also teach them about ores that are easier to identify. Although the clerk did not recognize it immediately, he also thought it looked familiar, so he bought it. Back in the county, he found an old craftsman and asked about it, and then he realized that it was malachite.

Malachite is also known as "green green", "stone green" or "green green". Malachite has such a beautiful name because its color resembles the spots of green on peacock feathers. It is considered a kind of jade material.

In fact, malachite is a high-quality copper ore. Generally, malachite has a considerable copper content of 30%. However, the copper content of ordinary good copper ore is only about 20%.

The clerk knew that he might have picked up treasures and found that the copper mine was a great achievement in the Song Dynasty. However, he could not guarantee whether the place where the woodcutter discovered was a copper mine. The clerk went to the countryside again. Under the leadership of the woodcutter, he came to the hidden stream where the malachite was discovered. There were also a large amount of malachite scattered here, but they were not good-looking, so he was not taken out by the woodcutter to give it to his wife.

Even with the skills of the two swords of the clerk, it was obvious that this was an objective copper mine. He was afraid that others would greedy for their contributions and hide the matter, so he quickly wrote a letter to Zhao Qin. For this reason, even the family members who delivered the letter did not know what was in the letter. As for the woodcutter, they had no idea what was buried there! Strictly speaking, the only one who knew about it, Zhao Qin and the clerk now had one more Du Xiansheng!

Du Xiansheng was overjoyed and said, "The prince is really a favored by God! But why didn't the prince send people to excavate immediately? Even if he didn't excavate, he would send craftsmen to investigate the situation of this copper mine!"

Zhao Qian shook his head and said, "It's not time yet!"

After a pause, Zhao Qian said, "Don't look at the fact that I am talking about Guangnan West Road, but has this Guangnan West Road really been subdued by me? This is not necessarily true! Not to mention anything else, this yamen, because the weather in Lingnan is hot, even my concubine, the concubine, wasn't willing to come. In the end, there were only eighteen servants with me! There were a large number of people who returned to Bianliang in the middle of the journey, and there were only five people who came to Guangnan West Road! Except for these servants, the rest of the yamen were sent by their subordinates. Who do you think their hearts are directed towards?"

Du Xiansheng was silent.

Zhao Qian said: "Don't act rashly before you are fully sure! And the time is not far away!"

Du Xiansheng was stunned for a moment, then understood and said in surprise: "Can you be..."

Zhao Qian stopped what Du Xiansheng wanted to say, and smiled mysteriously, "It's better to know some things, but it's meaningless to say them!"

Du Xiansheng said with sincerity: "The prince's wisdom is like the stars in the night sky, dazzling and makes people wonder how many stars there are!"

ps: Sorry! The number of words is much smaller, but I feel like my state is back! I will start to update tomorrow!

What’s hard is that I lost too much information, and now I feel like constipation by typing! ~ Alas! (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, novels are better and faster!
Chapter completed!